An efficient shooting algorithm for Evans function calculations in large systems

In Evans function computations of the spectra of asymptotically constant-coefficient linear operators, a basic issue is the efficient and numerically stable computation of subspaces evolving according to the associated eigenvalue ODE. For small systems, a fast, shooting algorithm may be obtained by representing subspaces as single exterior products \cite{AS,Br.1,Br.2,BrZ,BDG}. For large systems, however, the dimension of the exterior-product space quickly becomes prohibitive, growing as $\binom{n}{k}$, where $n$ is the dimension of the system written as a first-order ODE and $k$ (typically $\sim n/2$) is the dimension of the subspace. We resolve this difficulty by the introduction of a simple polar coordinate algorithm representing ``pure'' (monomial) products as scalar multiples of orthonormal bases, for which the angular equation is a numerically optimized version of the continuous orthogonalization method of Drury--Davey \cite{Da,Dr} and the radial equation is evaluable by quadrature. Notably, the polar-coordinate method preserves the important property of analyticity with respect to parameters.Comment: 21 pp., two figure

Continuation of connecting orbits in 3D-ODEs: (I) Point-to-cycle connections

We propose new methods for the numerical continuation of point-to-cycle connecting orbits in 3-dimensional autonomous ODE's using projection boundary conditions. In our approach, the projection boundary conditions near the cycle are formulated using an eigenfunction of the associated adjoint variational equation, avoiding costly and numerically unstable computations of the monodromy matrix. The equations for the eigenfunction are included in the defining boundary-value problem, allowing a straightforward implementation in AUTO, in which only the standard features of the software are employed. Homotopy methods to find connecting orbits are discussed in general and illustrated with several examples, including the Lorenz equations. Complete AUTO demos, which can be easily adapted to any autonomous 3-dimensional ODE system, are freely available.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Query-points visibility constraint minimum link paths in simple polygons

We study the query version of constrained minimum link paths between two points inside a simple polygon $P$ with $n$ vertices such that there is at least one point on the path, visible from a query point. The method is based on partitioning $P$ into a number of faces of equal link distance from a point, called a link-based shortest path map (SPM). Initially, we solve this problem for two given points $s$, $t$ and a query point $q$. Then, the proposed solution is extended to a general case for three arbitrary query points $s$, $t$ and $q$. In the former, we propose an algorithm with $O(n)$ preprocessing time. Extending this approach for the latter case, we develop an algorithm with $O(n^3)$ preprocessing time. The link distance of a $q$-$visible$ path between $s$, $t$ as well as the path are provided in time $O(\log n)$ and $O(m+\log n)$, respectively, for the above two cases, where $m$ is the number of links

The Stability of One-Step Schemes for First-Order Two-Point Boundary Value Problems

The stability of a finite difference scheme is related explicitly to the stability of the continuous problem being solved. At times, this gives materially better estimates for the stability constant than those obtained by the standard process of appealing to the stability of the numerical scheme for the associated initial value problem